Artists I liked

Hotel Lux, Drahla, Shame, Hussy, Lucia, The Band Of Holy Joy, Warmdusher, Honeyblood, The Horrors, Snapped Ankles, Desperate Journalist, She Drew A Gun, Pulled Apart By Horses, British Sea Power, Koyo,  Yonaka, Gang Of Four, Peter Hook and the Light, Helen McCookerybook, Jo Quail, Myrkur, SKiNNY MiLK, Dronningen, Dream Wife, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir

Artists that were okay

Yowl, Crosa Rosa, Melt Dunes, Moderate Rebels, Soccer Mummy, Sweaty Palms, Scoundrel

Artists I won’t be going out of my way to see again

Crewel Intentions, Chemtrails, God Colony, The Orb, Lower Slaughter, Drug Store Romeos, Eyrie Leiu, Alabama Three, Judy Dyble and Andy Lewis

Best Gig

January was actually a decent start to the year. The Rockaway Beach festival was a good way to start a new year. Next year it needs more acts. But it was a good break. But there was one outstanding gig this month. Myrkur at St John on Bethnal Green was simply stunning. A perfect location for folk gothic folk music.

Best new artist

I wasn’t sure if I’d enjoy Peter Hook. I thought it might be a bit karaoke. But he was really good.

Best photo

A few months ago I did a ‘random’ at Rough Trade. The artist was called Myrkur (aka Amalie Bruun) and although I knew nothing about her, by the end of the gig I was hooked. Myrkur, is on the surface a Scandinavian black metal artist. But she also has had a pop career and most pertinent to this review, a background in Scandinavian folk music. It was this aspect that interested me most so the idea of a whole gig of her folk music in a church, had to be done.

First up was Jo Quail playing an cello using various loop pedals. She was an excellent introduction to the evening.

St John’s of Bethnal Green is a great little venue. It has decent acoustics and tonight, the lighting gave it a spooky atmosphere, the perfect setting of Myrkur.

Myrkur practices kulning, an ancient method of calling herds in the wilds of Scandinavia. Mrykur, started the evening with her own kulning, calling her audience to attention. From this moment onwards, I was bewitched.

There’s something special about Myrkur. She has a beautiful versatile voice. With the power to sing metal, but the delicacy to sing folk music. Tonight she played a combination of acoustic versions of her metal and folk music mainly from Denmark and Sweden. Regularly switching between piano, drum, guitar and some traditional instrument. She was accompanied by two singers who complemented Myrkur’s voice perfectly and a guitarist playing various traditional instruments. Even though much of the evening I couldn’t understand the words, everything was simply beautiful. I was simply bewitched and from the complete silence, so was everyone else in the audience. (And I was glad that my camera has a silent mode)